Global warming is becoming more and more serious, and many countries and international organizations are trying to solve it. The most sensible solution is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, the use of energy resources, such as gas and oil, is being reduced, and technologies are being developed for environmental energy use. There are restrictions on individual use of these new technologies because they are still incomplete. However, thanks to advances in technology, people will be able to increasingly use different types of alternative energy everywhere.
What is alternative energy?
Unlike fossil fuels such as coal and oil, alternative energy is environmentally friendly and is unlimited. In addition, it never generates greenhouse gases while in use. Currently, many countries are using a variety of alternative energy sources, like wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectric energy, and geothermal energy. Using these energies, electricity is generated while the environment is being protected.
The advantages of alternative energy
Alternative energy has a lot of advantages for the environment and in terms of amount. As mentioned above, alternative energy can be obtained from anywhere in nature without generating carbon dioxide. On average, coal power plants generate about 2.2 pounds of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity (Tierney and Bird, 2020).
By using alternative energy, electricity production can be cheaper, which can reduce electricity bills. For example, thermal power plants and power plants powered by fossil fuels cost astronomically every year; however, alternative energy can be free of charge because it is acquired from nature.
Finally, job growth can be expected due to an increase in the use of alternative energy. This is because companies and countries want many engineers in various fields for alternative energy. Moreover, securing jobs for millions of people, state-funded investments earn above-average wages for many renewable energy jobs (TerraPass, 2020).
The disadvantages of alternative energy
The main disadvantage of alternative energy is that it is greatly affected by the weather. Solar or wind energy can cause catastrophic problems on cloudy or windless days. In addition, hydroelectric power requires a lot of water and snow, but it is difficult because the damage from drought is increasing worldwide. Therefore, the current energy efficiency is inferior to that of fossil fuel power plants.
Secondly, construction and conservation costs and technical skills are problematic. Most countries use fossil fuel energy as their main resource to generate electricity. However, it takes too much time and money to shut down primary power plants and build and operate alternative energy plants. Furthermore, the current technology of alternative energy power plants is indeed lacking. Therefore, research and design of alternative energy need to be carried out carefully (Roberts, 2017).
Conclusion
There are various views on alternative energy, and there are still problems in excluding fossil fuels and using alternative energy as the main energy source. However, it is undoubtedly an important way to prevent global warming. Also, the advantages that can be obtained by using alternative energy will be very diverse. Therefore, it is necessary to research and develop alternative energy around the world.
References
TerraPass (2020). Renewable Energy | Advantages and Disadvantages. [online] terrapass. Available at: https://terrapass.com/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-renewable-energy [Accessed 1 Jun. 2022].
Tierney, S. and Bird, L. (2020). Setting the Record Straight About Renewable Energy. www.wri.org. [online] Available at: https://www.wri.org/insights/setting-record-straight-about-renewable-energy [Accessed 2 Jun. 2022].
Roberts, D. (2017). Is 100% renewable energy realistic? Here’s what we know. [online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/4/7/15159034/100-renewable-energy-studies [Accessed 2 Jun. 2022].
